Mark Nelson

Experience the American ecologist Mark Nelson for the first time in Denmark talk about his insightful and thought-provoking experiences from life in Biosphere 2, a closed ecosystem in Arizona. The event takes place Thursday 6 June at 5pm in Charlottenborg Art Cinema at Kunsthal Charlottenborg.

On 26 September 1991, Mark Nelson closed the door of the Biosphere 2 behind him and did not open it again until 26 September 1993. In the two intervening years, he lived with seven other so-called biospherians in this unique architectural construction in the Arizona desert. Biosphere 2 had its own biosphere, a closed ecosystem consisting of various biomes, which the residents should live in and off. The biospherians were one with the system. They were organic pioneers, participants in an extreme experiment, and the incarnation of a radical vision for the future. Almost 30 years after Mark Nelson ended the first mission, it is highly appropriate to re-visit the Biosphere 2 and its ecological awareness to reflect on the relationship between human and non-human life on Earth, today and in the future.

The talk is organized in collaboration with Medical Museion as part of an exhibition collaboration at Kunsthal Charlottenborg in the fall of 2021, which is curated by Jacob Lillemose and Adam Bencard. The talk is a collaboration between Medical Museion, Art Hub Copenhagen and RESPOND Festival – People, Planet and Technology, which takes place 6 – 8 June at the Engineer Association’s building in Copenhagen.

The event is in English and the admission is free (admission to the current exhibition is 50 DKK).